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Paul Kramer
"If there is any discredit, you bring it upon yourself!" Paul Kramer is a character appearing in both the novel Where Eagles Dare and its movie adaptation. Novel Oberst Paul Kramer was born in Heidelberg and attended Heidelberg University with Wilhelm Wilner. By the time of World War II, he was the Deputy Chief of the German Secret Service (Abwehr) and the ranking officer at the Schloss Adler. Soft-spoken and practical-minded, Kramer was in charge of interrogating the captured Lieutenant General George Carnaby, and sent word to Berlin, leading to the arrival of Kramer's old friend Reichsmarschal Julius Rosemeyer. They convened in the gold drawing room of the Schloss Adler. Kramer wished to avoid torture. When Carnaby refused to tell them about the Allied plans for the second front, Kramer had Olaf Christiansen, Lee Thomas and Edward Carraciola brought in, hoping that having three of his supposed rescuers revealed as Nazi spies would break the General's spirit. Still Carnaby refused. Annoyed, Kramer told Anne-Marie, his secretary as well as a nurse, to begin torturing the General. No sooner had they begun than two strangers appeared. One turned his gun on the other and introduced himself as Hauptsturmführer Johann Schmidt, an undercover SS agent. He also claimed to have attended Heidelberg University and insisted he was an old friend of Kramer's classmate Wilhelm Wilner. Next, Schmidt told Kramer and the others that "General Carnaby" was actually Cartwright Jones, an American actor impersonating the real Carnaby to give the Nazis false information, and that Christiansen, Thomas and Carraciola were also imposters, all as part of a British plan to kidnap Reichsmarschal Rosemeyer, which the three fervently denied. Schmidt proposed that if they were genuinely loyal Nazi spies then they'd know the names of their contacts in Britain. While they compiled the lists Schmidt asked for, Kramer summoned a guard he could trust, Oberscharführer Hartmann. But as soon as "Schmidt" got the lists, he knocked out Hartmann and revealed he was really British spy John Smith. Although "Carnaby" was still a fake, Christiansen, Thomas and Carraciola were genuine, and the lists of names were the true purpose of the mission. Kramer was stupefied and incensed. Hauptsturmführer von Brauchitsch came in, but was overcome thanks to the timely arrival of Mary Ellison. Captured, Kramer was given a choice: be shot or be injected with nembutal, which would knock him out for a while. He chose the latter. Along with Rosemeyer, Schwartz, Hartmann and von Brauchitsch he was administered the drug and fell asleep. They were found later by an Alpenkorps obergefreiter sent to alert Kramer to the fact Allied agents had broken into the castle - something the soundly sleeping Kramer was already aware of. Film Kramer is a member of the Waffen-SS Alpenkorps instead of the Abwehr and doesn't survive. When Schaffer shoots Sturmbanführer von Hapen, Kramer tries to call for help on his personal telephone, and is shot twice by Schaffer to stop him, killing him. Awards *Iron Cross 1st Class *Iron Cross 2nd Class *Wound Badge (Silver) *General Assault Badge Gallery kramer_and_rosemeyer.jpg| kramer_enraged.jpg| Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul Kramer, Paul